FAMILIES learned last night that a special school for children with multiple disabilities is to be closed by the end of next year.

FAMILIES learned last night that a special school for children with multiple disabilities is to be closed by the end of next year.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind will close Sunshine House, in Southport, after a review lasting 18 months.

An independent review recommended the 75-year-old school should close because it is costly and under-used.

The charity's executive council, which is made up of 200 elected trustees, consulted a wide range of people.

However, the move has sparked anger among parents who have accused the RNIB of abandoning them and they are now considering taking their case to the High Court.

The school provides specialist education for 12 visually-impaired and handicapped children aged four to 11. From 2003, they will be forced to move to other special schools in the region.

Parent governor Kerry Seddon, whose seven-year-old daughter, Jessica, is at the school, said: "I am not shocked by the decision. We believe the RNIB had decided this before the review had taken place. There is nowhere that meets Kerry's medical, educational, care, therapy and respite needs. The RNIB has a moral obligation to these children and the children of the future.

"We will be consulting a solicitor and we are confident we have a case and we can seek a judicial review. We are not accepting this decision.

"Ms Seddon said the RNIB should be seeking to expand the school, with enhanced respite facilities and a family centre.

"However, the RNIB had warned for a number of years that the school, which opened in 1923, was under threat because of the decline in pupil numbers.It said the target occupancy is 24 pupils and that the school subsidy is no longer sustainable."

RNIB's director of education and employment, Eammon Fetton, said: "We would not have closed the school if we thought we had another option. We are providing funding for independent advocacy advice because we understand that some parents will feel aggrieved about our decision."

"The decision that our council took was that we close by December 2002 but in all probability it will close next July or September in time for the new school year."